The Lighthouse Song

Speaking of new things worth checking out on MySpace (and really, when are we not), Josh Pyke has posted the first new song from his forthcoming Chimney's Afire record: "The Lighthouse Song." The list of artists whose work I'll grant a preemptive endorsement is dwindling to say the least, but Mr. Pyke remains firmly entrenched there. Buy this record when it comes out. It will be good.

In the interest of not just posting a link to MySpace and calling it a day (not that there's anything wrong with that), here's a mostly forgotten interview I did with Josh Pyke back in 2005 on the now-defunct PulverRadio.com. The interview includes four fantastic live performances interspersed in between poorly worded, mundane questions and patiently delivered answers. I cringe to listen to the interview these days, but the songs are really marvelous.

Josh Pyke gets his ARIA

I'm very late on the news, so let's be clear about what's happening here: I'm only bothering to post this in order to gloat. Josh Pyke took home an ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album. I understand that's the Australian equivalent of winning a Grammy, so it's simultaneously a pretty big deal and completely meaningless. But I'd imagine that once one gets to the point in one's career that nominations for these things* start coming along, it's nice to win one. So congratulations, Josh.

The gloating: Back in may of 2005, before Josh's first EP Feeding the Wolves came out, and only just after he began playing under his own name and not his original moniker Night Hour, I was lucky enough to have Josh Pyke play in my studio at PulverRadio on his first visit to New York. 4 songs, interspersed with what seems to me now to be a fairly pedestrian interview on my end. But he was GREAT then, and he's only gotten better. It's no surprise he's finding the success he's found Down Under.

So the point is, I can pick 'em. It only took two and a half years for Josh to go from playing in my studio to playing on the red carpet outside an awards show that I understand Nicole Kidman attended. And then winning an award inside. So when I tell you to keep your eyes on Endless Mike and the Beagle Club or Jaymay, you should do it. It's only a matter of time.

* This wasn't Josh's first nomination, but last time he lost.

No Man's Woman

It's been a good year for fans of covers of Kate Bush songs. First Placebo's not-new-but-new-to-many-OC-viewers cover of "Running Up That Hill" got great billing in a season-opening montage, and now Josh Pyke (one of our very favorites) has made "Wuthering Heights" his own.

The cover will appear on No Man's Woman, a record full of Australian male artists paying tribute to "women in voice." Not the kind of thing I usually gravitate towards, but I'll listen to anything once. Josh Pyke's Kate Bush cover is absolutely worth a listen, and is a nice bonethrow to fans who've worn the 1's and 0's of Memories & Dust down to nubs. Check it out at MySpace.

The Powderfinger/Portishead track is kinda fun, too.

* Bonus: check out this torturously horrible video to remind yourself what the original sounded like:

Josh Pyke - Lines On Palms video

Josh Pyke's new record, Memories & Dust, is out March 10. "Lines On Palms" is the second single, the first track, and candidly, quite good.

Close. But no cigar.

This year's ARIA Award for Best Pop Release went to the Veronicas, instead of our beloved and deserving Josh Pyke. To even be nominated though is a real accomplishment, and Josh will be too busy with his UK Tour with Ben Kweller (go to the shows section) and the upcoming 2007 release of Memories and Dust to dwell on it too long. Onwards and upwards.

Josh Pyke - Memories and Dust video

Boy are things going well lately for our friend Josh Pyke. He's nominated for a "Best Pop Release" ARIA Award for Feeding The Wolves. Think Grammy, only Australian. Also nominated in that category: Ben Lee, The Veronicas.

AND, he's got a new record on the way. The first single is the title track, "Memories and Dust." It's really quite beautiful, if I do say so myself (and I do). Here's the video:

Oh yeah, and he's also currently on tour in the UK with The Walkmen. No big deal.

Josh Pyke is in the big leagues now, baby.

Big news from the Josh Pyke camp today: Josh's debut LP, Memories & Dust will be released not only on the venerable Ivy League Records in Australia, but will be released worldwide by Island/Universal (UK)! From the Josh Pyke Newsletter:

Ivy League Records has just inked a deal with Island/Universal (UK) for the worldwide release of Sydney songsmith Josh Pyke's debut album 'Memories & Dust'.

Josh was personally signed by newly appointed Managing Director of Island (UK), Dan Keeling, who made his mark signing global superstars Coldplay.

Josh is currently completing work on 'Memories & Dust' with in-demand producer Wayne Connolly, and it promises to be one very special record.

The landscape of music distribution has changed dramatically (to say the least) in the past few years with the Internet offering up new heroes day in and day out without the backing of the behemoth marketing budgets of the majors, but that doesn't mean it doesn't help a whole lot to break out of your own scene and onto the global one to have some deep pockets in your corner. For an act trying to go worldwide from Down Under, this is huge. Amazingly so.

And how about Dan Keeling and Wayne Connolly? Not bad names to have in your Rolodex. Dan's credentials are laid out before you with the Coldplay bit, and Wayne has produced records for The Vines and Australian favorites Youth Group (who you might've seen open recently for Death Cab for Cutie), among others.

So, heartfelt congratulations from your friends at PulverRadio, Josh. We always knew you had it. Don't forget us when you're dining on caviar with Jay Z.

(Check out Josh's interview/performance from our studios last year here. And expect to hear new stuff from him on PulverRadio by the end of the summer.)

Josh Pyke - Live at PulverRadio 5/26/05

click here for mp3.
runtime: about 20 minutes

I'd been following Josh closely when he was going by the name Night Hour, and I was so excited when I heard he was coming to New York for a few weeks, and when I found out he'd have the time to stop by my studio, I just about lost it. It's not every day I get to have really cool people play in the studio, especially really cool people from the other side of the world. Josh played 4 songs (two very new ones) and he sounded truly fantastic. Setlist follows:

The Doldrums
Middle of the Hill
Kids Don't Sell Their Hopes So Fast
Fill You In

Josh Pyke - Feeding the Wolves

Just got my hands on an advance copy of Josh Pyke's new record Feeding the Wolves. It's as good as I kept saying it would be. I'll write a full review of it when I get a chance to really sit down and do some writing, but I wanted to get on right now and just say what a spectacular release this looks like it'll be. Hopefully they'll like it as much in his native Australia as I like it here in New York. It comes out there in November.

If you want to hear acoustic versions of a few of the songs recorded from the PulverRadio studios, you can do that by going to the 2Go section of the PulverRadio Forums, where you can download an entire interview/performance.